Defining Groups


 		 This task explains how to define groups of products. A group is a set of products explicitly defined by selecting products individually. Groups are persistent and can be stored in the document.
aprereq.gif (1223 bytes) Insert the following cgr files from the cfysm samples folder:

ATOMIZER.cgr
BODY1.cgr
BODY2.cgr
LOCK.cgr
NOZZLE1.cgr
NOZZLE2.cgr
REGULATOR.cgr
REGULATION_COMMAND.cgr
TRIGGER.cgr
VALVE.cgr

  1. In the specification tree or in the geometry area, select the products you wish to constitute the initial group content (you can use ctrl-click to multi-select products).

fsdefinegroupNLS.gif (16789 bytes)

Creating a Group

  1. To create a Group, in the DMU Review Creation toolbar, click the Group icon or, in the menu bar, select Insert -> Group .
    The Edit Group dialog box and the Preview window appear.
    The Preview window displays the selected products.
Product representations visualized in the Group Preview window do not take sticker representations into account.
To customize the default display setting for the Preview window, see Customizing General DMU Settings in the DMU Navigator user guide.

  1. To add a product to the Group content, select the product in the specification tree or the geometry area.
    The product is added to the Group content listed in the Edit Group dialog box.

  1. To remove a product from the Group content, you can either:

  • de-select the product in the Specification Tree or in the Main window
 
  • select the product in the Edit Group dialog box and click the Remove from Group icon
  • select the product in the Preview window, right-click and select Remove in the contextual menu


Note: The multi-selection is now available in the Identifier list of the Edit Group dialog box.

 
 

  1. In the Name text-entry field, enter a name for the group you wish to create.

  2. Click OK to create the group.
    The group is identified in the specification tree. Groups created in this manner are persistent and can be stored in the document.

 

Editing a Group

  1. To edit a group, in the specification tree, double-click the group
                                        or
    right-click the group and select Group.1 object -> Definition from the contextual menu.

    The Edit Group dialog box appears and lists the content of the group you just created. Products in the group are highlighted in the specification tree and in the geometry area.


Note that although the group is selected and its content is highlighted in both the specification tree and in the geometry area, the group content is not considered selected.

  1. Modify the Group content as desired.

  2. Click OK to confirm.

Selecting Group Content in the Main Viewer

  1. To select the Group content in the main viewer, right-click the Group in the specification tree and select Group.1 object -> Select Content from the contextual menu.
    The group components are highlighted in both the specification tree and in the geometry area and the group content is considered selected.

Hiding Group Content

  1. To hide the Group content, click the Hide/Show icon .
    The group components are hidden and the icons are grayed out in the specification tree.

Note: If you then move individual components back into the show space, the group icon in the specification tree remains grayed out.


 

Showing Hidden Components in the Preview Window

  1. After having hidden the group content in the previous step, double-click the Group in the specification tree.
    The Edit Group dialog box and the Preview window appear.
    The group content is indicated in the specification tree, but the icons are still grayed, indicating that the products are hidden.
    The Edit Group dialog box will look as follows:


 

  1. In the Edit Group dialog box, select all of the components (the multi-selection is now available) and click the Show Hidden Objects icon .
    The Visibility attribute of each component will still be Hide, corresponding to the visibility status in the Main window. but the components will now be visible in the Preview window.

This functionality does not work for Manikins.
In the Edit Group dialog box, the value in the Visibility column corresponds to the value of the graphic property of the instance and is consistent with the visibility state of the icon in the specification tree. However, it is possible, due to inheritance, that it not be consistent with the product as displayed in the Main window.
 
 

Cross-Highlighting between the Edit Group dialog box and the Preview window

  1. In the Edit Group dialog box, de-select LOCK and NOZZLE_1_2.
    The components are also de-selected in the Preview window.

  2. In the Preview window, re-select LOCK and NOZZLE_1_2.
    The components are now selected in the Edit Group dialog box.

Note: The multi-selection is now available in the Identifier list of the Edit Group dialog box.
 

Defining Groups of Groups

You can now define groups of groups. A group that contains sub-groups will be automatically updated upon any modification to the content of its sub-groups.

Note: When you expand a group in the specification tree, you will not see products belonging to any sub-groups in order to avoid possible confusion with the product structure tree content.

  1. Create Group.2 consisting of the components BODY_1_2 and BODY_2_2.

  2. Create Group.3 consisting of components VALVE and ATOMIZER.

  3. Click the title bar of the Edit Group dialog box to activate it.

  4. In the specification tree, click Group.2.
    Group.2 is added to the content of Group.1.

  5. In the specification tree, click Group.3.
    Group.3 is added to the content of Group.1.

  6. In the Edit Group dialog box, click OK to confirm.
    The content of Group.1 in the specification tree now includes Group.2 and Group.3 as sub-groups.

  7. In the specification tree, select Group.1.
    The content of Group.1 is highlighted in the main window. Its content now includes its original content as defined above in the section Creating a Group plus the content of its sub-groups, Group.2 and Group.3.

 
 

Replacing by highest common Father

The objective of this command is to optimize group content by replacing a set of brother products by their common father when all of the brothers belong to the same group. This optimization is especially interesting when selecting a group and highlighting its content.

Note: The optimization is not applied recursively on sub-groups.

With the following product structure, the composed groups would be transformed as presented by the application of the Replace content by higher father command.

  1. In Tools -> Customize, add the Factorize Content command using a customized toolbar or access the command directly in Views -> Commands List.

  2. If you added the command using a customized toolbar, then click the Replace content by higher father icon .
    Brother products are accordingly replaced by their highest common father.
 

Replacing Content by Terminal Nodes

This command explodes groups: products are replaced by their children.

Note: This command is not recursive on sub-groups, sub-groups will be not exploded.

With the following product structure, the composed groups would be transformed as presented by the application of the Replace content by terminal nodes command.

  1. In Tools -> Customize, add the Explode Content command using a customized toolbar or access the command directly in Views -> Commands List.

  2. If you added the command using a customized toolbar, then click the Replace content by terminal nodes icon .
    Content is replaced by its terminal nodes accordingly.
From the Edit Group dialog box, you can also select a subset of components by selecting the corresponding Identifiers in the Edit Group dialog box and clicking the Select icon .
 
You can also modify group properties (color, line type and weight).